Burial-vault.



VPATENTED UGT. a, 1907.

A. BRLITZ.

BURIAL VAULT, APPLICATION FILED JUNE 28. 1907 fili- 1* tiri: if; lii-l-i; *l slgtlk attozmu] ALBERT.` ERLITZ, OF STILLWATER, MINNESOTA.

BURIAL-VAULT.

Speccation of Letters Patent.

Patented Oct. 8, 1907.

, Application tiled June 28,1907. -Serial No. 381,295.

Toizll wnom tt 'may concern:

Be it known ,that I, ALBERT ERLI'rz, a citizen of the United States, residing at Stillwater, in the county of .Washington and State of Minnesota, have inventcdpnew ,l and f useful Improvements in Burial-Vaults, oi which the following is a specification.

'lh'is invention relates to a vault or receptacle of conifteor the like for the reception of a coilin.

#The invention has for one oi its objects to nnprove and simplify the construction o devices oi this character so Las to be easy to manufacture and designed tov facilitate the `tiurying operation.

' A further objectof the-invention is the provision o a vault'or receptacle provided with a cover so arranged thatijtcanbe readily swung open ai ter being placed in ,the grave for thc reception of the casket and. then swung closed for sealing the vault or receptacle. I With these objectsl in view and others, as willappear as the description proceeds, the invention comprises the various novel features of construction and 'arrange nient of parts which will be more fully described here inafter and set forth with particularity in the claims appended hereto.

In the accompanying drawing, which illustrates one.

of the embodiments of. the invention, Figure 1 is a plan View of the vault or receptacle with the cover in position. Fig. 2 is a plan view with the cover removed. Fig. 3 is a vertical transverse section.

vSimilar reference characters are employed to designate corresponding parts throughout the several views.

Referring to the drawing, A designates the body oi the vaulti,and B, the cover therefor, both of which are constructed oi concrete or other plastic material and ovided with longitudinal and cross hars 1 of iron for reinforcing the concrete. The top edges o the sideand end walls 2 and 3 are molded with shoulders or internal ledges 4 onwhich the cover B rests. One of the side iv'alls 2 is provided with a rounded bead 5 extending from end mend-thereof, and-the adjacent edge of the Q "ser is provided with acorresponding groove G for engaging the said head for the purpose of permitting the cover to swing open or closed, and at the saine time perl. mitthe .coverto be' bodily removed, as desired.l The cover B has a ring 7 suitably secured thereto adjacent A the edge opposite from the hinge joint formedliy the bead and groove 5 and 6 to permit a rope or equivalent means to be attached to the cover for the purpose of swinging it open or closed. The cover loosely lits into the top of the body A, and the crack 8 around the periphery of the cover can he filled hy pouring soit cement into the same. On the bottom y9 of the vault arc transverse ribs l0 on which the casket is adapted to rest'and for holding the casket ofi the bott-oni to enable the lowering ropes to be disengaged from the casket aiicr the,

same has been placedy in the vault.

In practice, the vault with the cover thereon is lou'- ered into the grave by means of ropes or the like and the cover is next swung open to dotted line position so as to receive the casket. The casket isilowered in the usual manner and as th'e cover is swung back out of the way', vthere is no difliculty in lowering the casket into the vault. After detaching the lowering ropes from the casket, the cover can be swung to closed position by moans of a rope or the like hooked into the ring 7. The

rope is then detached and soit cement filled into the joint around the cover so as to seal the vault.

From the foregoing description, taken in connection with the accompanying drawing, the advantages of the construction and oi the method of operation will he readily apparent to those skilled in the art to which the invention appertains, and while I have described the principle of operation ofl the invention, together with the device which I now consider to be the best embodiment thereof, VI desire to have it understood that the device shown is merely illustrative and that such changes may be made when desired, as are within the scope of the claims.

Having thus'described the invention, what I claim isz- A vault comprising a body, a cover capable 'of being bodily reuioved therefrom, a head :ind groove joint hetween one edge of the cover and one side of the body to permit the cover to swing open or closed, and va device secured to the cover adjacent the edge thereof oppositefrom the joint for attachment to means for swinging the cover open or closed.

In testimony whereof, I unix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

' ALBERT vERLITZ.'

Witnesses:

LoUIs L. MANWARING,

C. B. JACK. 

